Weather blog: Weather Aware Day for morning and afternoon storms

**10:00 p.m. UPDATE **

Thankfully, the tornado threat has ended for our area. Areas along and south of I-44 were hammered with large hailstones.

Giant hail ranged from golf ball to softball size. The largest reported hailstone I’ve seen was 4″ in Douglas County. Hail wasn’t the only threat that impacted the Ozark as a powerful tornado touched down on Highway 60 causing massive damaged to Aurora, Monett, and Verona.

Power lines are down. Trees are uprooted. Roofs are damaged. Vehicles damaged. Thankfully, we are not hearing of any fatalities or major injuries.

By judging off the level of damages seen, I estimate the tornado to be a strong EF1 or EF2 tornado. The National Weather Service will send a survey team to conduct an official investigation and estimate the tornado size.

**2:00 p.m. UPDATE **

Storms are beginning to fire up to the northwest of Springfield. As they form, they will gain intensity quickly. The National Weather Service has said they are closely monitoring the storm crossing over the Oklahoma/Missouri state line. It is expected these storms will strengthen as they push east.

**12:30 p.m. UPDATE **

The National Weather Service in Springfield has placed Southwest Missouri under a TORNADO WATCH. The tornado watch is in effect until 7 p.m.

**12:00 p.m. UPDATE **

Tom Schmidt and Natalie Nunn discuss Wednesday’s weather threat and answers viewers questions.

Round 1 of storms today went just south of Highway 50 from Harrisonville to Jefferson City and eastward towards Cuba and Saint Louis. With the northerly track of Round 1 there is a full tank of fuel ready to be used by Round 2 across central and southern Missouri and northern Arkansas for this afternoon/evening.

The morning round of storms has left a boundary that will be the focus point for intense storms and tornado potential after 2PM. The boundary is near a line from Joplin to Camdenton then east to Rolla. Storms that develop along this boundary will be in a highly unstable environment. This will create a potent atmosphere for very large hail and damaging winds along with an elevated tornado risk.

Bottom line, remain weather aware through today as this could turn into the largest weather day we’ve seen locally this year.

No more crazy weather is expected after today through the weekend. A well-deserved break from what’s been a fairly active end of April and start to May is coming our way.

A couple of cold fronts late today and early tomorrow will calm things down and lower temperatures to the low to mid-70s through Sunday. Winds will generally be from the northwest during this stretch with skies mostly sunny.

It is May though and rain chances do return to start next week. Right now, scattered rain and a few thunderstorms are possible off and on Sunday night through the middle of next week. Severe weather looks unlikely but will need to be monitored just in case.

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